Exaclair Exacompta Prestige Journal 21 Daily Planner 2011

Exaclair Exacompta Prestige Journal 21 Daily Planner 2011

So, up for review today we have the excellent Journal 21 daily planner from Exacompta! A sample sent to me by the Amazing Karen of Exaclair (for which I am very grateful), I actually plan on using this planner for the next year, so some of this review will be ongoing. The main purpose of this initial review is to point out all of the features included in the Journal 21.

The Journal 21 I received features the Soya cover, a smooth, supple leather-like material which is saddle stitched. While the cover is nice, the journal itself is the star of our review today.

The little slip-cover insert included states the following:

• Refillable
• 8 am – 9 pm
• Rules with monthly tabs
• Yearly planning
• 15 months monthly planner
• Address pages
• Tear-off corners
• Sewn binding opens flat
• Superior quality 72 gsm tinted paper
• PEFC certified
• Acid and chlorine free paper
• Made in the USA

Yes, there is a reason I bolded that last point. Exacompta is proud of the fact that they manufacture their products here in the US, unlike many other manufacturers which have out-sourced their production overseas. I respect them all the more for this point and wanted to make sure I mentioned it.

The first several pages features an information page, US and major world holidays, telephone access codes, and time zones. Directly following them are the three semi-annual planning pages (July-Dec. 2010, Jan.-June 2011, and July-Dec. 2011). These are followed by the monthly planning pages which cover November 2010 – February 2012.

Finally we reach the crowning feature of this fine planner, the day-to-day planning section. This part features a whole page for each day with a  line for each half-hour from 8 am to 9 pm. At the top of the page is the day of the week, the number date, and the month. Directly below on the left it tells you which week of the year it is as well as what day (counting backwards and forward). Directly across the page is a miniature calendar of the current month as well. This format looks beautiful, and I really am excited about getting to use it, but there is one thing that irks me slightly… The tear-off corner is extremely close to the 9 pm designation (which is really not a major issue, just a nitpicky editing issue).

After the day-to-day section is a two page spread yearly planner for 2012, which features a small block for each day. Last, but not least, is an address book, for you to jot down those important numbers before you forget them… Again…

As I mentioned in the beginning, this is an excellent and beautiful product, and I can’t wait to begin using it and being able to provide some more feedback throughout the year!

Note: I am not an employee nor and I am in any way affiliated with Execlair or Quo Vadis. This review is in no way affected by the fact that this item was a free sample from Execlair.

Quo Vadis Notebook with Habana Cover

Quo Vadis Notebook with Habana Cover

So today, we have another review of another notebook (I know, I’ve been straying away from pens lately, but, to be totally honest, I havent’ been able to afford many new ones, and none of the ones I have yet to review really pop out at me, so… Add to that the fact that I have so much stuff that I wish/need to review, and…) from the lovely Karen at Exaclair. She sent me such a wonderful batch of goodies, but as I mentioned in my last notebook post, I’m gonna try these out a little bit rather than just put them through their paces and then shelve them to move on to the next item.

So, where to begin? Well, we’ll start with the Habana cover. The Habana is a leather-like material. Soft and supple, with a grain similar to real leather, the Habana could easily fool the novice’s eye and even the eye of the leather-knowledgeable person (at least from a distance. My future father-in-law asked if it was leather before he felt it and inspected it up close). The embossing on the front and back of the cover was beautifully done and seemed to be deep enough that it would hold for a long time to come. I must admit that I was very impressed with the material and it’s feel, as well as how flexible it was.

Next, the most important part of the notebook… The paper. Each of Quo Vadis’ fine notebooks are filled with “Clairefontaine” paper. According to Execlair’s excellent website, Clairefontaine is “famous for its exceptionally white and ultra smooth notebook paper.” The paper is 90 gsm (grams per square meter), which is the equivalent of 24 lb. printing paper, has a perfect satin finish for smooth writing, is opaque (allowing you to write on both sides of the page, especially since the 90 gsm paper hold ink well and doesn’t bleed easily). The paper is also chlorine-free. Instead of bleaching the paper, as is common in some manufacturing methods,the mineral calcium carbonate is used to give the paper it’s “ultra-white and smooth finish”.

After trying out this paper, I must admit… I’m a believer. When I put pen (be it fountain pen, pencil, gel pen, rollerball, ballpoint, quill, anything…) to this paper, I think the doors of Heaven opened and the angelic choir began to sing… Ok, so I’m a little overdramatic. It was still one of the most pleasurable writing experiences I’ve ever had. Any instrument I used flowed over the paper easily, no snags, not catching, no nothing… None of the inks smeared (the paper was absorbent) as I drug my left hand over the page, nor did any of them bleed through. Even the Noodler’s Bulletproof Lexington Grey, which is notorious in my experience, did not bleed through at all. I truly was impressed by the quality of the Clairfontaine paper.

The Quo Vadis notebook also lays open flat (an excellent thing for a leftie) and has a bookmark, paper pocket on the back cover, and an elastic closure. The paper is also PEFC certified, so it’s made out of pulp and wood by-products from sustainably managed forests. This notebook, all in all, is an excellent example of the best that Execlair has to offer. Quality cover material + Quality  paper + Quality construction = Quality product.

Note: The highlighter did smear the Pilot G-2 0.38mm ink for some reason… I may not have let it dry enough though… Not sure. I may test this futher, later on.

Note: I am not an employee nor and I am in any way affiliated with Execlair or Quo Vadis. This review is in no way affected by the fact that this item was a free sample from Execlair.

Exacompta Nostalgie Journal (Exacompta Forum Journal)

Exacompta Nostalgie Journal (Exacompta Forum Journal)

Thanks to the benevolent kindness of Karen of Exaclair, I am now the proud owner of several Exacompta products! And as such, I plan on reviewing them all over the next several weeks… The first up is the “Celtic” Nostalgie Journal.

This beautiful journal from Exacompta is actually a journal cover which can be refilled with any of the journals/sketch journals from the “Basics” series. I must admit, I was drawn to this one because of my heritage and love of Celtic music. The Celtic Nostalgie features a beautiful pattern of Celtic knots as well as a Celtic font on the cover and spine. While the cover is not true leather, it does have a leather-like texture and the embossing holds beautifully and is very vivid and crisp. The cover is saddle-stitched with a light thread which beautifully offsets the tan and tawny color scheme.

While the cover is beautiful, the main focus of this review is yet to come… Inside this beautifully wrapped package is an Exacompta Basics Forum Journal. Featuring 64g (or 80g, their website is a little unclear on that matter. While their catalog states that they are 64g, their paper chart states that they have 80g paper. As for myself, based upon the ink test, I think it might be closer to the 80g, since the fountain pen ink almost did not bleed at all) white satin finish paper in a 365 page daily undated format.

Each page features a short line for each hour from eight a.m. to seven p.m. in two boxes at the top left and right of the page as well as three center lines, one for the month, day, and year respectively. All the printing on the page is done in a pale dark green ink, which contrasts the satin white pages very well. Each page also has the bottom corner perforated so that it can be removed. This handy system allows you to quickly flip to the next un-written page.

Also included in the Forum notebooks are a plethora of charts and information, including weights and measurements, conversion tables, area codes for frequently called cities and countries, time zones, a travel and expense record, as well as a small address book.

Edit: Thanks to John M., who commented on this post, I remembered one of the features that I completely neglected to discuss… I even took pictures to show this feature and posted them, but apparently just forgot to talk about it. The Forum Journal lays flat… “What’s so great about that,” you may ask, and in reply I say that it is one of the best features I’ve ever seen in a notebook. As a left handed person, it is very hard to find a notebook that is comfortable to use due to the fact that my hand either is raised up on the spine (in sown/bound notebooks) or on the binding in spiral notebooks. Due to this, it’s sometime uncomfortable for me to write. The Forum Journals lie extremely flat, allowing my hand to flow across the page, with none of the discomfort of a normal journal!

All-in-all, a beautiful little notebook, the Exacompta Nostalgie Celtic Notebook is truly an excellent offering from Execlair. Check out some more photos below (Note: Some of them are rather large hi-res photos/scans)…

Before I close out this post, I want to once again thank Karen from Execlair who was awesome in sending me such a wonderful batch of products! I look forward to trying out and reviewing the other products she sent me in the near future. Also, feel free to comment on the new “photo gallery” feature in this post… Does it make things look more clean? More crowded?

Note: I am not an employee nor and I am in any way affiliated with Execlair or Exacompta. This review is in no way affected by the fact that this item was a free sample from Execlair.